3 Simple Survival Items

Here's a bit more mountain wisdom from The Joes' - There are 3 simple survival items we should never be without:

A blade,

The ability to make fire, and

The ability to defend ourselves.

We were taught this survival tip early on, and that is why mountain kids always used to get knives as gifts and hand-me-downs.

A blade can serve as simple survival items one and three: the blade itself and the ability to defend. With the blade, be it a knife or a tomahawk, we can make almost anything we need. A shelter, raft, fishing weir, a bow and arrows, even a canoe. With a bit of time (lol), we can also make rope so we can hunt and snare. Given the right kinds of wood, we can make a bow, spindle and block... so we can make fire with our blades.

The ability to make fire can be flint and steel like Moccasin Joe found a deal on, we got a whole pile of them and gave them out to about everybody we knew. These "emergency fire-starters" we got are really cool because they are magnesium alloy and are tinder and striker in one. Not the best tinder but certainly better than nothing. Also, a Bic lighter counts, as does matches.

And I might as well share another one of our secrets:

Know what the best tinder in the world we have found is?Dryer Lint! Keep it dry in a film-capsule container or something. Us Joes' got baggies of dryer lint in the trucks, in the bug-out bags, in the tackle-boxes, the stuff is freaking amazing. You can compress a rainy week's worth of tinder into a film canister. That's gold... Stop throwing it away. (Just remember, the Joes' at LongTermStorageFood.com told you that one).

Well that leaves us with the ability to defend one's self. Back in the olden days, carrying weapons was quite commonplace and knives and tomahawks were, or certainly could be, used for defense.

Here you are in the modern time's. You aren't allowed to carry knives or even water bottles when you fly. How will you fulfill your primary responsibility to yourself, your loved ones, and other innocent people? Maybe ditch your cheap pen knife and lighter while boarding a plane and pick up another set upon landing? Seems a decent solution to me, given the circumstances, but do you FEEL prepared?

Us Joes' have done logging, mining, hunting and lots of dangerous things but we're pretty scared of cities. You gotta be pretty aware of things in a city. Everything and everybody in a city seems apt to run you over if you don't get out of their way. "Beavens to Hetsie", we thought the woods was dangerous!

A pen knife and a lighter can be had for a couple of bucks, but if you aren't clear in your mind and capable in your body, don't take chances with yourself, especially you city people! Creeping jeepers! Our message is clear: don't leave home without these 3 simple survival items.

Well, then the ability to defend ourselves is primarily a state of training, fitness, and state of mind isn't it? Unless we develop a martial art that uses the attache case or computer bag as a weapon. Which isn't a bad idea come to think of it, but at that rate, our weapons are kind of whatever we have at hand.

These are matters for some contemplation. I guess that's what I'm trying to imply here. Being responsible for your own defense, and for those whom you love, is not as easy as ordering a Rambo knife from a catalog.

Come to think of it, in the whole spectrum of violence I've been witness to or threatened by, running away quickly... has really paid off. I never got seriously hurt running away from a fight. This brings to mind another under-rated piece of survival gear: Good Sneakers!

Be Aware. Observe. Listen. In the dark where you can't see, LISTEN. Let your ears be your eyes. The ability to defend yourself is best when you get yourself out of harm's way before you get into it.

Awareness is 360 degrees. But as we prepare, we dominate that 360 degree spectrum, we are not only no longer afraid, we become a source of stability and strength. Our vision will hopefully guide them away from conflict. Just as our shepherds do for our sheep, (the real ones, not the allegorical ones... the ones we actually eat on a plate with potatoes and cabbage). There is no tomahawk, knife, or fire-starter that can replace this feeling in your heart.

Us Joes' really like this awesome website right here... and we're very humbled and honored to have had another opportunity to speak to you. You can shoot us a line by searching for our email at the bottom of LongTermStorageFood.com where we don't talk very much about self-defense, but we are interested in what you are thinking about.

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